The ORIGINAL Pug Pals

The Pug Penpal Project is a creative and heartwarming educational initiative that pairs elementary school students with registered pugs from around the world to practice their literacy, geography, and social-emotional skills through letter writing.

How It Works The project was started by Sharon Latek, a first-grade teacher in Northbrook, Illinois, who was inspired by how engaged her students were with her own pugs, Stewie and Boba. The core idea is that students are more enthusiastic about writing when their audience is a fun, furry friend.

Matching: Teachers with classrooms interested in participating are matched with volunteer pug owners from various locations. Correspondence: Students write letters to their assigned “pug pal,” sharing stories, drawings, and asking questions. Pug Mail: The pug owners write back to the students in their pugs’ “voices,” often including photos and age-appropriate content. This generates significant excitement for “pug mail day” in the classroom.

Learning Outcomes: The program helps students improve handwriting, letter formatting, and general writing skills. It also teaches geography as students track where their pug pals live (spanning almost every U.S. state and several countries) and builds empathy, confidence, and reading enthusiasm.

Aside form being the ORIGINAL Pug Pals, Stewie and Boba love to go for long walks wearing their Julius K-9 harnesses. They also love a good quality bone and a good game of fetch!

The Julius K-9 Harnesses get an A+ for PUGS! Pugs should not be wearing collars to this harness is excellent for them to wear. There is no pulling on their necks and allows for safe fun walks.